Sorley Maclean
| death_place = | occupation = School teacher | nationality = | period = | genre = Gaelic poetry | subject = | movement = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website = }} Sorley MacLean ( , sometimes "MacGilleathain" in earlier publications) (26 October 1911 - 24 November 1996) was one of the most significant Scottish poets of the 20th century. Life Youth Maclean was born at Osgaig on the island of Raasay, where Scottish Gaelic was the first language. He attended the University of Edinburgh and was an avid shinty player playing for the university team. After earning a First class degree, he returned to the Highland and Island community to teach. He was instrumental in preserving the teaching of Gaelic in Scottish schools. MacLean turned away from the Presbyterian faith of his community in his early teens. Like many Europeans of that day, he moved in sympathy to the far left. Much of his work touched on specifically political themes and references, and his position was Communist until the mid-1940s, although he was not a philosophical Marxist. He was also a skilled and delicate writer of love poetry. He felt guilty for not fighting in the Spanish Civil War (1936-9) (unlike Orwell, who was a sergeant in the POUM militia), but this led to one of his greatest poems. He served with the British Army in North Africa during World War II and was wounded on three occasions, once severely during the Battle of El Alamein. He was apparently in a trench with 6 others when it was hit by a shell and he was the only survivor: :One Election took them all. And did not take me. 6 dead men at my shoulder. Autumn day. Later life He married Catherine (more often known as Renee) Cameron, the daughter of Inverness builder Kenneth Cameron of "Cameron and Munro". He had three daughters, in descending order of age, Ishbel, Catriona and Mary. He had six grandchildren, again in descending age order, Somhairle, Aonghas, Calum, Gilleasbuig, Catherine and Donald. His first great-grandchild, Uilleam Ruairidh was born in 2010. . He died aged 85 from natural causes, in Scotland. Writing His early poetry was in English, but after writing his first Gaelic poem, An Corra-Ghridheach ("The Heron"), he decided that it was far better than his English work, and resolved to continue using his native language. By the mid-1930s he was well known as a writer in this tongue. His work in the field of Gaelic poetry at a time when very few writers of substance were working in Scottish Gaelic at all, has led to his being viewed as the father of the Scottish Gaelic renaissance. He was involved in the foundation and was a board member of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on Skye. His poetry articulated in Gaelic the crimes of the 20th century, and modernised and reinvigorated the language in the process, drawing clear and articulate analogies between such tragedies and acts of cultural genocide as the 19th century Scottish Highland Clearances, and the contemporary viciousness and injustice of events in places such as Biafra and Rwanda. Hallaig, a meditative poem on the desolation associated with the Highland Clearances, forms part of the lyrics of Peter Maxwell-Davies' opera The Jacobite Rising. The poet's own reading of the poem in English and in Gaelic was sampled by Martyn Bennett for his album Bothy Culture for a track of the same name. Recognition Maclean was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1990. Somhairle MacGill-Eain is commemorated in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh. Selections for Makars' Court are made by the Writers' Museum, the Saltire Society, and the Scottish Poetry Library. Publications Poetry *''Four points of a Saltire: The poetry of Sorley MacLean, George Campbell Hay, William Neill, Stuart MacGregor''. Edinburgh: Reprographia, 1970. *''Poems to Eimhir''. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Northern House, 1971. *''Spring Tide and Neap Tide: Selected poems, 1932-1972''. Edinburgh: Canongate, 1977. *''Poems, 1932-1982''. Philadelphia: Iona Foundation, 1987. *''O choille gu Bearradh / From Wood to Ridge''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1989. **also published as From Wood to Ridge: Collected poems in Gaelic and English. Vintage, 1991. *''Dàin do Eimhir / Poems to Eimhir'' (edited by Christopher Whyte). Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2002; Edinburgh: Polygon, 2007. *''An Cuilithionn 1939, and unpublished poems''. Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2011. Non-fiction *''Ris a'bhruthaich: Criticism and prose writings''. Stornoway, UK: Acair, 1985. Edited *''Modern Scottish Gaelic Poems: A bilingual anthology'' (as "Somhairle MacGill-Eain"; edited with Domhnall MacAmhlaigh). Edinburgh: Southside, 1976. Letters *''The Correspondence Between Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean : An annotated edition'' (edited by Susan Wilson). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Sorley Maclean, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 26, 2014. Anthologized * MacAulay, Donald (Domhnall MacAmhlaigh) ed (1977). Nua-Bhàrdachd Ghàidhlig / Modern Scottish Gaelic Poems: A Bilingual Anthology. New Directions, New York. pp. 70–115: "Am Mùr Gorm/''The Blue Rampart", "''Camhanaich/''Dawn", "''An Uair a Labhras mi mu Aodann/''When I Speak of the Face", "''Cha do Chuir de Bhuaireadh riamh/''Never has such Turmoil been Put", "''Gaoir na h-Eòrpa/''The Cry of Europe", "''An Roghainn/''The Choice", "''Coin is Madaidhean-Allaidh/''Dogs and Wolves", "''A' Chorra-Ghritheach/''The Heron", "''Hallaig/''Hallaig", "''Coilltean Ratharsair/''The Woods of Raasay", "''Ban-Gàidheal/''Highland Woman", "''Glac a' Bhàis/''Death Valley", "''Latha Foghair/''An Autumn Day", "''Aig Uaigh Yeats/''At Yeats's Grave". See also *List of British poets References External links ;Poems *"Hallaig" (translated by Seamus Heaney) * English poems at Sorley Maclean Online (6 poems) * Sorley Maclean (1911-1996) at the Scottish Poetry Library (profile in English, & 8 poems in Gaelic with translations) ;Audio / video * Sorley Maclean's Island short Quicktime clip from the documentary at the Scottish Screen Archive. *Sorley Maclean at YouTube ;About * Profile at Carcanet Press * BBC Bio - Làrach nam Bàrd * Sorley MacLean Online - the Sorley MacLean Trust * Article summarizing a lecture by Heaney on ''Hallaig and MacLean's writing. * Maclean at the Scottish Portrait Gallery Category:1911 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Scottish Gaelic-speaking people Category:People from Skye and Lochalsh Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Scottish communists Category:Scottish Gaelic poets Category:Scottish poets Category:Scottish soldiers Category:Scottish writers Category:Shinty players Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets